Afghanistan Times
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AT News Report-KABUL: The young politician, and former head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Amrullah Saleh strongly reacted to the Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s demands for providing safe zones for the Taliban insurgents—the very terrorist group that Afghan security forces have been fighting against for 16 years—warning that the deal would stir another national confusion and ensuing fiasco putting it alike Durand Line agreement.
“Hekmatyar wants safe zones for Taliban. It means he wants the Durand line pushed & extended further west all the way 2 gates of Kabl. Says these zones be governed by mutual consent of Govt & d Tb. Ironic, that is exactly repetition of Gandomak treaty. That is how 1st Durand started,” Saleh warned this in on online statement posted on his official twitter account.
Saleh, the leader of the Afghanistan Green Trend movement, had served as spy head for several years, was also appointed as state minister for security reforms, but he announced his resignation on his Facebook page without giving exact details—but during a TV show he accused the Presidential Palace of nepotism, power monopoly, and racism.
However, the leader of Hezb-e-Islami, Hekmatyar in a press briefing on Saturday said that his statement had been quoted out of context.
“Hezb-e-Islami doesn’t support the handover of some regions to the Taliban,” he said, but supported safe zone for the militants.
Pointing toward safe zones for the Taliban, he said establishment of such zones should be with sole aim to help and protect the Taliban and their family members who are willing to join peace process.
To end the current crisis, he called on all political parties to come under one umbrella to find a peaceful solution to the current dilemma.
Meanwhile, he backed timely parliamentary election, calling on people to caste vote for honest representatives.
In different occasions, Hekmatyar called on Taliban to join the Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace and reconciliation process to end the prolong war. But as usual, the Taliban insurgents opposed talks with the government.
Recently, the National Unity Government offered unprecedented peace talks with the Taliban. However, no respond received by the extremist group so far.
